One God and Father of All
The "B" in BUMP stands for bridge - a link or means of approach - and in 2011, God allowed that bridge to span a greater distance than just the road from suburbia to the city. As 169 youth and their leaders converged on the Twin Cities, July 16-24, 2011, their hearts and eyes were opened to a stunning and new reality.
Unity in need 
"God showed me the need of myself and the people of this city," writes one student. Sharing the gospel through VBS, sports camps, block parties, community meals, car washes, even at neighborhood pools in record-breaking heat, opened eyes to the reality that while the needs of the city are great, each of us has the exact same spiritual need, easily translating to life back home.
Honest words come from another in Omaha, "We are commanded to share the gospel several times in the Bible. This isn’t an option. This will greatly affect my previously hypocritical lifestyle."
A Wichita BUMPer was hit hard with the truth that Christians who look like the world can’t change it. "Honestly, I’m tired of being a Sunday morning Christian; I’m tired of acting like everyone else and claiming I’m different. I’m gonna live for God and not care what people think."
Planning to return again, a first-time BUMP student shares, "God is working mightily in this ministry, not just to those we are helping but in us as well."
Even the weather served God’s purposes to teach and grow. "The heat and lack of sleep could have made us very unhappy and not united, but where we are weak, God is strong;" wise words from one who spent steamy nights without air conditioning just like many in the surrounding neighborhood.
Unity in purpose
The team from East EFC in Wichita, KS brought along one student from West EFC, also in Wichita. Following his experience at Cross Cultural EFC in St. Paul, the West EFC student is hoping to encourage his youth group to work alongside East EFC in a downtown ministry in Wichita.
Pella, IA and Omaha, NE teams came together to host a block party and VBS at Faith EFC in the Robbinsdale neighborhood of Minneapolis. As the week progressed, they re-named themselves "Pomaha" and on site it was difficult to tell which students came from which team. Their week concluded with four of these BUMPers being baptized at Twin Lakes Beach.
Groups develop into a family during mission trips and BUMP is no exception. God convicted one team member during devotional time to love two other members of the team and she found herself closer to her teammates because of the opportunities to serve together. The girls shared, laughed, cried, read the Word and prayed together during the week. For another team, the unity that developed during the week was described as a "miracle." "We’ve never been like this, this unified." Others found closeness so they are no longer alone facing daily battles of difficult lives.
Unity in the kingdom
Coming from a rural area in Illinois, a team member serving at Riverside EFC in Minneapolis speaks from a heart
with new understanding. "I saw a little girl with ebony skin and she was the most beautiful I had ever seen. I asked to hold her and as I held this little 18-month-old in my arms, I fell in love. How could I have never experienced this?" As they shared that moment, walls came down that categorized people only by color and differences. New boundaries were defined by the Spirit.
Preconceived ideas about people in poverty often include laziness or lack of responsibility. Students participated in a poverty simulation (similar to the game of LIFE) where they were grouped into families who had to make decisions based on the cards dealt them. Faced with heart-wrenching and unavoidable situations, some participants struggled to make decisions that would honor God. They were given the opportunity to "feel" the poverty rather than just hear about or see it. Perceptions were changed and with that attitudes in ministry during the week.
Following the exhausting week of heat, humidity and ministry, some BUMP Twin Cities 2011 participants learned first-hand what Paul described in Ephesians 4:4-6: "There is one body and one Spirit…one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." Although eleven separate teams came to Minneapolis/St. Paul, an Alexandria student shared during the final night pizza and praise rally that it was more like being a part of one big BUMP rather than seven separate BUMP sites.
With the same Father loving all the same, He spoke to the heart of another who lives less than an hour from the Twin Cities: "I used to hate the city, but now I have a love for it and the people in it!" One Father, one God, one Spirit, one purpose.
To read more detailed stories of God’s work at BUMP Twin Cities 2011, visit the blog at http://www.bumptwincities.blogspot.com/
To read about ministry in other BUMP cities, view the blogs:
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